Two taxi companies collaborated in an impermissible manner in connection with their submission of tenders for a procurement of transport services. The Swedish Competition Authority has decided that the companies must pay a competition fine of a total of SEK 1,550,000. The companies' financial situation has meant that the fine has been set at a lower amount than justified by the seriousness of the infringement.
It was in connection with the municipality of Ulricehamn carrying out a procurement of travel services, work trips and national travel services that the two taxi companies Taxi Beställningscentral i Ulricehamn kommun Aktiebolag and Väner Taxi AB collaborated on tender submission and tender prices.
The Swedish Competition Authority opened an investigation after a tip from the municipality, which had suspected collaboration between the two competing companies. There were clear similarities between the respective tenders submitted by the companies.
The Swedish Competition Authority's investigation shows that, despite the fact that it is not permitted, the two companies had had direct contact with each other via email and telephone prior to submitting the tenders to jointly develop a plan for how they would act in the procurement.
– When competing companies choose to cooperate in bidding for a procurement instead of competing for the assignment, it is a serious violation of the competition rules. It puts competition out of play and risks leading to higher prices and worse conditions for the contracting authority, says Rikard Jermsten, Director General of the Swedish Competition Authority.
The mobility service agreement that the municipality was to procure covered four years, with the possibility of a two-year extension, and was planned to come into force on September 1, 2020. The municipality estimated the value of the procurement to be a total of approximately SEK 7 million per year.
According to the Swedish Competition Authority's decision, Taxi Bestallålingscentral i Ulricehamns kommun Aktiebolag must pay SEK 300,000 in competition damages, while Väner Taxi AB must pay SEK 1,250,000 in competition damages for having carried out an anti-competitive collaboration.
This is a serious violation of the competition rules that actually justifies a higher competition fine. However, when setting the fine, the Finnish Competition Authority has taken into account that the companies are in a difficult financial situation and that their survival would be jeopardized if the competition fines were set at a higher amount.
According to the press release.
